Healthcare orgs call for call for mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations

Major healthcare organizations, including the American Medical Association (AMA), American Nurses Association, American Academy of Pediatrics, Association of American Medical Colleges, and the National Association for Home Care and Hospice, issued a joint statement calling for mandatory vaccination for the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) amongst all healthcare and long-term care workers, according to an announcement made earlier this week.

“With COVID-19 case counts rising amid the spread of the Delta variant,” the announcement said, “more than 50 healthcare professional societies and organizations called for all healthcare employers to require their employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19.”

Although vaccination rates among healthcare workers have been better than that of the general population, by the end of May, one-in-four hospital workers had not been vaccinated, according to the AMA. This leaves patients, especially unvaccinated children, elderly, and immunocompromised, facing a growing risk of infection as the Delta variant surges. If implemented, this mandate would cover 17 million healthcare workers.

“Due to the recent COVID-19 surge and the availability of safe and effective vaccines, our healthcare organizations and societies advocate that all health care and long-term care employers require their workers to receive the COVID-19 vaccine,” the statement reads. “This is the logical fulfillment of the ethical commitment of all healthcare workers to put patients as well as residents of long-term care facilities first and take all steps necessary to ensure their health and wellbeing.”

Editor's note: Click here for more information and ongoing COVID-19 updates for integrative healthcare professionals.